Laura Garbštienė Lithuanian, b. 1973
Laura Garbštienė (b. 1973, Lithuania) is a textile and interdisciplinary artist whose work includes video, sound art, installation, photography, and performance. She completed her MA studies in Textile Arts at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2000.
Starting her career in the field of textile, between 2002-2005 Garbštienė collaborated with the well-known Lithuanian artist and composer Arturas Bumšteinas (part of the artist duo G-Lab) creating video and sound installations. Since then Garbštienė has also participated in numerous art residency programmes. A characteristic feature of her creative practice is turning herself into the object of her own works: immersing herself in various situations, she becomes an integral part of them and provokes the viewer with her performance. Another important aspect of the artist’s workstyle is experimenting with language, chance, provocative naiveté, subjective emotional experiences and multicultural contexts. Garbštienė’s most recent works function within the discourse of institutional critique, which, in her case, is characterised by humour, nihilism, and a soft attitude towards staged humility. The artist has recently moved to the countryside where she is researching the essence of the process of creation and its relation to the most natural state of human living. This allows the artist to create ephemeral works of art from routine experiences, rural objects and materials. Living in a remote village has complemented her works with ecological, naturalist and even animalistic themes, offering a critical outlook on consumerism and (mis)communication in the art field.
Laura Garbštienė works and lives between the countryside and the art scene. In her conceptual and interdisciplinary works, the artist seeks to explore the traditional and rural way of life, nature conservation, local change, and global processes, combining various experiences with the flow and change of nature. The artist’s works have been presented at numerous contemporary art exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad.
Born 1973 in Vilkija, Lithuania
Lives and works in Lithuania
EDUCATION/RESIDENCIES
2020 – Nida Art Colony residencies, Nida (Lithuania)
2008 – Residency at Cite des Arts, Paris (France)
2008 – Residency at Künstlerhäuser Worpswede (Germany)
2006 – Residency at the state of NRW studio, Düsseldorf (Germany)
2006 – Residency at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Innsbruck (Austria)
2005 – Nordic AiR residency at Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen (Norway)
1996-2000 – Textile (MA) at Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius (Lithuania)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 – Ašmenys pamažu sinchronizuojasi, Atletika, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – Foundation for Temporary Art, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2010 – Laura Garbštienė, Antje Wachs gallery, Berlin (Germany)
2010 – Berries, VDU gallery 101, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2009 – Artscape: Portugal, gallery VARTAI, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2009 – Ladyfest Vilnius, VDA gallery ‘Akademija’, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2008 – Tundra, gallery Meno parkas, Kaunas (Lithuania)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 – The Sweet Sweat of the Future, National Gallery of art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2017 – M/A\G/M\A, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2016 – Žilvitis, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2014 – Close stranger, Kaipėda Culture Communication Center, Klaipėda (Lithuania)
2013 – VARTAI Gallery at ViennaFair, Vienna (Austria)
2013 – Postidea. Restorative works II, Kaunas picture gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2013 – Part of a larger whole. Lithuania contemporary art, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2013 – Postidea. Restorative works, VAA exhibition space ‘Titanikas’, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – Lithuanian art 2012: 18 Exhibitions, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – In The Presence Of Multiple Possibilities, French Riviera, London (United Kingdom)
2010 – Lucca film festival (Italy)
2010 – Lithuanian Art 2000-2010: Ten Years, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2010 – CRAZY CURATORS Biennial, Bratislava (Slovakia)
2010 – City without Walls. International Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (United Kingdom)
2010 – International film festival “Kinoshock”, Anapa (Russia)
2010 – Keine Angst! Tapetenwerk, Leipzig (Germany)
2010 – Oberhausen short film festival, Germany
2009 – DOPUST, performance art festival, Aquarium Bacvice, Split (Croatia)
2009 – URBAN STORIES, The X Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2008 – It Happens To Be This, Künstlerhauser Worpswede (Germany)
2008 – Foreign to Familiar, Cité Des Arts, Paris (France)
2007 – 2420 Čiurlionis, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2007 – Prague Biennale 3, Prague (Czech Republic)
2006 – Selfobjects, Lithuania Art Museum, Vilnius (Lithuania)
AWARDS/GRANTS
2010 – Special Mention of the international Jury, The International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize), Oberhausen Film Festival (Germany)
2010 – An Award for the Best Emerging Filmmaker at Lucca film festival (Italy_
2008 – Lithuanian Ministry of Culture grant, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2008 – Stipendium des Landes Niedersachsen (Germany)
2006 – State of North-Rhine-Westphalia grant, Düsseldorf (Germany)
2006 – A grant from KulturKontakt, Vienna (Austria)
2005 – NIFCA grant, Helsinki (Finland)
COLLECTIONS
Mo museum collection
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Group show Žilvitis (Willow)
25th Vartai gallery anniversary marking exhibition 19 Feb - 9 Apr 2016From its very establishment in 1991, Galerija Vartai has been a prominent cultural centre, attracting a wide and diverse following both within and outside Lithuania. In addition to exhibitions of...Read more -
Knut Åsdam / Laura Garbštienė
Artscape: Norway 11 Sep - 26 Oct 2012Artscape is a continuing interdisciplinary project launched in 2009 when Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture. It began as a joint event organised by three organisations – Menų vartai,...Read more
ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
2019 – Dovilė Bagdonaitė, “Nuoširdi psichogeografinė patirtis”, in: Šiaurės Atėnai, 2019-10-25
2017 – Karolina Rimkutė, “Grėsmė patriarchatui”, in: Literatūra ir menas, no. 17(3613), 2017
2012 – Vitalija Jasaitė, “Viena erdvė – du solo”, in: Literatūra ir menas, no. 31(3391), 2012
2009 – Tautvydas Bajarkevičius, “Vienaragio keliai ir klystkeliai”, in: artnews.lt, 2009-05-06
2008 – Neringa Černiauskaitė, “Pavojinga video meno dozė klaipėdiečiams”, in: artnews.lt, 2008-11-05
2006 – Dovilė Tumpytė, “Aklos žinutės: Lauros Garbštienės personalinė paroda ‘ARTima’ galerijoje”, in: 7 meno dienos, no. 704, 2006.
